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comment by cgod
cgod  ·  3133 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Another One Bites the Dust or Staying Alive?

When waiting tables it's best to ignore no tip or a terrible tip. When servers get upset it generally snowballs into a night of bad tips.





katakowsj  ·  3132 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Sage advice.

Over time, I've learned a similar lesson when handling middle schoolers. When one kid brings his/her baggage to first hour and decides to "pee in my wheaties" by acting out and disrupting class, I've learned to keep my eye on the prize and stay calm. I handle things (the best I can) politely, calmly and decisively.

Getting upset about some kid's acting out only increases the likelihood that I'd be on edge in the following class periods. Staying upset also increases the odds that I would also irritate some other kid carrying emotional baggage into my following classes, setting him/her off.

thenewgreen  ·  3133 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I was a server for many years and my experience confirms this. It's amazing how the same people consistently had "bad nights." When I managed a restaurant, I always told the servers that the "floor" was a stage and even if you're at a work station, or away in a corner you should assume that a guest can see and hear you.

Have to vent? Do it in the break room or maybe the kitchen but NEVER on the floor. I had no tolerance for that. No guest should ever hear or see a server complaining. Granted, this was a fine dining restaurant and the same rules may not apply at a bar, but if I owned it, they would.

cgod  ·  3133 days ago  ·  link  ·  

A few decades in the business and I've only seen a handful of times when dropping the show was appropriate. Sexual harassment of the staff, inappropriate and disruptive behavior toward other guests that didn't clear up after a warning and a few customers so callously demeaning to the staff that they needed to be told how humans act.

I had a large party of about a dozen people get seated in my section. They looked like professionals gussied up for a night of swanky partying. It was early in the evening and while it was a place that was happening later in the evening there were a few families with kids in my section. The large party's behavior was disgusting. Swearing like crazy, loudly discussing sex acts and just being assholes. The families are bitching at me as I'm desperately trying to get this party to tone it down. I put the whole thing in my managers lap who gets them to settle a bit but my whole section feels like it's about to explode in dissatisfaction.

When the big party gets up to leave two of the leaders were milling about as the rest of the party was heading out the door. I pick up the credit slip and it's a $4 tip on a bill that was around $150. I turn and look at the guy and say "really? $4 dollars?"

He reaches in his pocket, pulls out a roll of bills, peels off a $10 and says "here shut the fuck up," and tosses it on the floor in front of me.

Their table was trashed. They had unscrewed the salt and pepper shakers and poured them under the table, same with the chips and salsa. I wasn't as angry as I was stunned.

I go up to the hostess to relay what happened and she gets this big smile. "when I asked for the guys name he didn't give it to me, he just flung his business card at me. Here you go."

I waited a few months then went by his office and put a cinder block through his plate glass window in the dark of night.

ecib  ·  3132 days ago  ·  link  ·  

"I'm Batman."

thenewgreen  ·  3133 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    I waited a few months then went by his office and put a cinder block through his plate glass window in the dark of night.
you certain he owned the building?
cgod  ·  3132 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Nope, but it was his name on the glass.